The plan: Fly to where Jetblue and Airtran DO NOT, yet

[General Lee]

Delta to add Caribbean flights
Tuesday August 2, 10:31 am ET



It's hard to imagine now, but when the thermostat dips and Atlantans are dreaming of balmier climates, Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL - News) plans to be ready with new routes to some of the Caribbean's hottest destinations.

This winter, Dominican Republic, St. Maarten, Barbados and St. Lucia will all get new or expanded routes from Atlanta.

In November, the Atlanta-based airline will start new, daily, non-stop service between Atlanta and Punta Cana, a resort destination in the Dominican Republic stocked with all-inclusive hotels.

In December, Delta is adding brand new, non-stop flights to Barbados from Atlanta three times a week.

On Nov. 19, Delta will start daily flights between Atlanta and St. Maarten, increasing from its three weekly flights.

Then Dec. 1, Delta will add daily flights between Atlanta and St. Lucia, up from the five weekly flights currently offered.

Since fall 2004, Delta has added eight new routes to its extensive Caribbean network, for a total of 27 markets served from the United States, including 10 destinations served from the airline's largest hub in Atlanta.

In addition to Barbados and Punta Cana, Delta has recently added service to Nassau from Ft. Lauderdale, New York (Kennedy) and Tampa; plus flights between Atlanta and St. Croix; New York (Kennedy) and Santiago, Dominican Republic; and Cincinnati and Montego Bay.

Overall, Delta has increased its number of available seats to the Caribbean by 24 percent, and to Latin America by 50 percent, in the past year, according to a Delta spokeswoman.

James Sarvis, Delta's director of the Latin America and Caribbean Region, said with the additional flights, Delta is targeting leisure travelers.

Delta already serves Santiago and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, but those flights leave from New York (Kennedy), where there is a large Dominican community.

He said by basing the Punta Cana flights out of Atlanta, which can be reached by 80 percent of the U.S. market in two hours, there will be more connectivity for vacation travelers.

"We realized it's a very significant beach destination market, so it will be better served from Atlanta," said Sarvis, of Punta Cana. "We've had eyes on it [the route] for a while. That's why we're being so aggressive with the daily flights."

Latin American routes, including Caribbean destinations, have been "very favorable for Delta and a very important part of our transformation," he added.

The airline will market the new routes with promotional partners from the countries they serve, said Sarvis. Flights to St. Maarten will operate with Boeing 757 aircraft. The other flights will operate with Boeing 737-800 aircraft. A portion of travel for some itineraries may be on the Delta Connection carrier Chautauqua.(Nassau)



As Easy as One, Two, Three ... Destinations in Hawaii
Tuesday August 2, 8:30 am ET

Delta offers customers expanded island flights with new service to Kona from Atlanta via Salt Lake City; Special low introductory fares promote newest Hawaiian destination


ATLANTA, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Delta Air Lines' (NYSE: DAL - News) customers soon can add one more location to their list of must-see vacation sites - the "Big Island" of Hawaii. Beginning Dec. 1, Delta will offer daily direct service between Atlanta and Kona, Hawaii, and daily non-stop service between Kona and Salt Lake City. Kona joins Honolulu and Maui on Delta's roster of exciting destinations in America's 50th state.

"The 'Big Island' is a jewel in the Hawaiian island archipelago," said Doug Blissit, vice president-Network Analysis. "The new flight to Kona will give our customers the chance to see and experience some of the most spectacular and literally 'moving' places on the planet in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park."

Delta's new service begins in Atlanta and connects in Salt Lake City with no change of planes to the non-stop flight to Kona. Delta will operate the new Kona service with Boeing 767-400 aircraft. With the new service, Delta will offer 20 daily round-trip departures between the U.S. mainland and three Hawaiian destinations: Honolulu, Kona and Maui. And to make a Hawaiian get-away this winter even more enticing, for a limited time Delta is offering customers special low introductory fares to Kona. Customers should think fast, though, because tickets must be purchased by Aug. 22, 2005.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[180ToTheMarker]

Methinks this is a great idea. Go where there is little or no competition and charge a premium price instead of trying to compete head to head.

 

[Flechas]

Methinks this is a great idea. Go where there is little or no competition and charge a premium price instead of trying to compete head to head.

But it's only a matter of time until Jet Blue decides that they can chage half of what Delta is charging, and the rest is history.....

 

[michael707767]

But it's only a matter of time until Jet Blue decides that they can chage half of what Delta is charging, and the rest is history.....

actually, down the road, I think Delta's pricing can and will be very competitive with Jetblue and Airtran. The changes Delta has made up to now leave us with a very low CASM and there are still a lot of things left to kick it. Add to that a likely visit to BK dumping some debt and the pensions, along with a few more cuts on labor (not saying I like that by the way) and Delta will be a very competitive airline in the future. Its not our operations that are hurting us, its the debt and pension payments. Change that and Delta can compete with anyone.

 

[Flechas]

actually, down the road, I think Delta's pricing can and will be very competitive with Jetblue and Airtran. The changes Delta has made up to now leave us with a very low CASM and there are still a lot of things left to kick it. Add to that a likely visit to BK dumping some debt and the pensions, along with a few more cuts on labor (not saying I like that by the way) and Delta will be a very competitive airline in the future. Its not our operations that are hurting us, its the debt and pension payments. Change that and Delta can compete with anyone.

Like I said, the rest is history......the race to the bottom goeson.....

 

[~~~^~~~]

"Delta is not failing to plan, and we are certainly not planning to fail," -DL CFO

Bye Bye--General Lee

Is this the same CFO that got fired?

Delta Air Lines Inc. abruptly replaced its chief financial officer and made other executive changes Wednesday, including reinstating a top senior position, as it prepared to record another hefty loss.... The departure of Michael Palumbo, the second CFO to leave Delta in 14 months, was announced in a statement in which the nation's third-largest airline said there is growing urgency to its transformation efforts.

Wonder if he was planning on that?

Who would want to be Delta's CFO now? Who would want to be the First Officer on the Titanic.

Isn't it amazing that we have to wonder if Delta is even serious about its recovery effort? Increased urgency my butt. After all, if Delta wanted to cut costs they could cut out redundant systems in the management of Delta Connection. The office leases and managers cost millions - then there are all the other costs - Connection mechanics can't fix each other's airplanes in each other's outstations. Crews are housed in each others hubs, costing multiple millions in hotel rooms alone, not to mention the crew planning snafus as airplanes are shifted to the Connection flavor of the month.

On Saturday a Delta passenger approached a Comair gate agent asking where she should go for her connection in CVG. The lady said "Delta" sold her the ticket. The gate agent rudely scolded her saying - "This is Comair, you don't have a Delta ticket, you have an ASA ticket, ASA is not here and I'm Comair." The bewildered customer stepped back and I walked over to look up the flight information on my phone. No wonder this people hate flying "Delta." In A concourse the only sign shows color coded rows of airport codes and times. Not everyone knows "Orlando" is "MCO." Flip, I can barely get useful information from that sign and I'm a 6 year employee.

Aside from the profigate spending at Connection, there is still the book tour for "Secrets of a Gay Marine Porn Star" and "Youth Pride." As long as Delta blows money on these causes, I will not take their "recovery" effort seriously - obviously they don't.

General, you said it in another thread. You need a merger and probably will see some scope changes. Well, we asked you to do this in 1998 and your MEC shot us down in flames in 2000.

Delta could be saved. I have no doubt about it. But, Delta's managers are too arrogant to deal with the reality of the tough, tough, choices that will be necessary. They still believe customers will pay more money to ride Delta, over their competition - it just is not true.

The competition does not have employees managed by triple redundant operations who's purpose is only to separate alter ego replacement labor while reminding its front line employees that they have no value, they have no future and they sure aren't Delta. How motivational.

Delta could be saved, but I see very few indications anyone is interested in saving it. A good start would be to spin ASA and Comair off to a private equity group as a single unit. Then announce an order of 787's and issue stock while Wall Street was all excited about the "new Delta." Put the employees on performance pay and revise scope so that the right airplane gets flown on the right route with a pilot from the seniority list. AirTran and Jet Blue can't get the network and seat mile costs to compete with a 737-800, 757, 767, 777 or 787 on the right route.

 

[General Lee]

Fins,


I agree with a lot of what you say. I do. We have some major passenger assitance problems. I have seen it too. I try to help as much as I can when we land, and I try to help bewildered people in the terminals. The problem I beleive is that we have a lot of employees at mainline that remember the "good ole days" and don't want to see the future as the way it will be. They need to retire. We need younger people to come in and enjoy the fact that they are working for an "airline." (Yeah, woopeee) All of our furloughed stews loved the job, and were good at it. Now we are left with burned out stews who don't want another pay cut because they have 14 cats to feed at their condo.

I think we do have a recovery plan too, but we are handcuffed with labor. We have retired the top 2000 pilots, but can't do the same with the others. Our transformation plan is ongoing, and it probably will work in time, but in the meantime we need to rid ourselves of people who don't want to be here, except for the paycheck.

AS far as giving ASA or Comair larger planes, well, you have to see it from a preservation point of view. We are shrinking and you are growing. It would be better for you to come over here and grow with us, even if we had to take pay cuts, because eventually you would make more---flying larger equipment. To make money in this business, you have to make revenue and make more than you spend. You can't do that with RJs---even 70 seaters, against LCC mainline equipment on the same routes.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[GogglesPisano]

Fins,


. Now we are left with burned out stews who don't want another pay cut because they have 14 cats to feed at their condo.


Bye Bye--General Lee

That is freakin' hilarious.

 

[Tomct]

General, I agree with some of what you and fins have said. The main problem is that we have to many pilot groups pissed at each other. One way to get rid of the dreaded Scope, would be to get the furloughed guys back ASAP and merge the lists! This would put an end to all of the bull$hit that goes on out there! Then we could slowly dump the 50 seaters and move onto bigger airplanes.
The main reason Big D bought so many RJ's( I believe) was to maintain Delta presence where a mainline aircraft just could not make money! Yes, with fuel prices going up you need more seats to spread the cost around, but we are limited. Believe me, I would much rather fly a big airplane for Delta rather than a Connection, but we are all on the same team, RIGHT!(ASA/COMAIR)
None of us wants Big D to go BK, but whatever happens is decided waaaaaayyyyyyy above my paygrade!
I only want the best for Delta and hope that it all can be worked out.
Later,
Tomct

 

[Counselair]

"we are left with burned out stews who don't want another pay cut because they have 14 cats to feed at their condo."

I believe the term is Cat Ranchers...

Enjoy de islands Mon.

Counselair